BLM California Takes Comments for Planning Review Regarding Oil and Gas Development on Public Lands for 15 Days After Last Public Meeting

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will accept scoping comments for the planning review of oil and gas development on BLM-managed public lands in the Hollister Field Office in California for 15 days past the date of the last public meeting.

The BLM initially announced it would take comments for 60 days or 15 days past the last public meeting, whichever came last. Due to delays from the lapse in appropriations and the resulting Federal government shutdown, the public meetings will run beyond the 60-day mark.

Fifteen days prior to the public scoping meetings, the BLM will publish a notice of the meetings in the Federal Register, issue news releases and post notices of the dates on multiple BLM California web pages. For more information, visit www.blm.gov/ca/eis-og.

As part of a joint effort with the State of California and in response to a series of legal challenges, the BLM is conducting a planning and science review of oil and gas development on BLM-managed public lands in the Hollister Field Office in California. The process will evaluate a full range of options, including whether such development is appropriate and if so, where and how it could be carried out safely and responsibly. Information resulting from the planning and science review will further inform future oil and gas leasing decisions.

The planning review will begin with a scoping period to solicit public input. This is the first phase of a process that may lead to the development of an environmental impact statement to amend one or more BLM resource management plans (RMPs) for field offices that have existing leases and expressions of interest in future leasing.